"To reveal to them their beauty and value" - Jean Vanier

Jean Vanier is the founder of the L’Arche communities, a international Christian network that supports people with developmental disabilities. One of the most beautiful parts of L’Arche is the way that abled and disabled people get to live together and learn from each other. This is what he has to say about love:

“To love someone is not first of all to do things for them, but to reveal to them their beauty and value, to say to them through our attitude: ‘You are beautiful. You are important. I trust you. You can trust yourself.’ We all know well that we can do things for others and in the process crush them, making them feel that they are incapable of doing things by themselves. To love someone is to reveal to them their capacities for life, the light that is shining in them.”

Questions for Reflection:

How can you love someone today so that they know you trust them and they can trust themselves?

Listen to hear God say this over you: “You are beautiful. You are important. I trust you. You can trust yourself.” What response does that inspire within you?

Spend a few minutes reading over this verse. Do you believe it about yourself? Why or why not? “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Psalm 139:14